


Stink, Stank, Stunk!

by bearpantaloons



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex and Eliza are rooting for these two idiots, Christmas Fluff, F/F, Lena hates Christmas, Sharing a Bed, but Kara loves it, she also loves Christmas music and listens to it year round
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 02:17:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21920200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons
Summary: After a family emergency, Kara has to go to Midvale for Christmas and drags Lena along with her, which would be perfectly fine if it wasn't for two things: Lena hates Christmas and she has unresolved feelings for her best friend. This may be the worst Christmas yet.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 39
Kudos: 514
Collections: Supercorp Content Creators' Guild Secret Santa Exchange 2019





	Stink, Stank, Stunk!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [drfitzmonster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drfitzmonster/gifts).



So, here’s the thing, when Lena says she hates Christmas, she honestly, truthfully, vehemently _hates_ Christmas. With the music that starts playing right after Halloween, the jingling of bells in her face, the stupid sweaters, all the red and green _everything_ , she hates it. When she meets Kara Danvers, walking Christmas miracle Kara Danvers, she finds herself edging toward indifference, rather than hatred.

She does things like takes Lena caroling in the park and they go look at everyone’s house decorations, since Lena admitted that Lillian never did that with her. The Luthors’ idea of Christmas was hosting a garishly over-the-top gala where Lena had to wear an uncomfortable dress and pretend that she liked her parents’ friends’ children, which she absolutely did not. Snotty-nosed brats was what they were. Most of the time, she just swiped a bottle of scotch and hid in her room. Their presents usually consisted of adding money to their trust funds that they couldn’t touch until both of their parents were dead, but when she and her brother Lex were old enough, they’d secretly buy each other gifts.

One year, Lex had gotten her a telescope that she set up in a corner room of their mansion attic that no one ever went to and she gazed at the stars and nearby planets, wishing she could visit them all, or at least get out of that house, away from her overbearing parents.

Meeting Kara is both a blessing and a curse – a blessing, because Kara makes her leave her apartment for frequent movie and lunch dates and a curse for that very same reason. She’s not used to socializing or having friends, at least not friends who just want to hang out and don’t actually want anything from her.

Hanging out with Kara is extremely easy and Lena finds herself becoming increasingly more comfortable around her the more they see each other. Normally, she wouldn’t be caught dead with her legs tucked underneath her on the couch or extended on Kara’s lap. Every finishing school or etiquette class her mother forced her to take taught her to sit on the edge of surfaces with an ankle neatly tucked under the other.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Kara invites Lena over for her annual Christmas movie marathon. Lena groans internally every Saturday morning when she realizes what day it is, but trudges along and always shows up with a bottle of wine and a pizza. When she arrives on this particular Saturday, which happens to be three days before Christmas, Kara doesn’t greet her with the same warm smile. Instead, she’s on the phone with someone, looking frazzled, and leaving the door wide open for Lena to step through herself while Kara turns away and paces through the kitchen.

“But she’s okay though, right?” Kara says, voice laced with panic. Lena can hear a voice coming through Kara’s phone, but can’t tell who it is or what they’re saying. “Yeah, I’ll drive over. Just give me a few hours. Okay. Okay, bye.” She hangs up and takes a deep breath, looking at Lena apologetically. “Sorry about that. That was Alex. Apparently, my mom took a bad fall at work and she needs someone to take care of her and Christmas family dinner.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. So, I guess movie night is off?” Lena says, almost relieved.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry,” Kara replies, wrinkling her forehead. “Hey, why don’t you come with me? If you go home now and pack a bag, by the time I’m ready to go, I can come pick you up and we can drive together.”

“No, that-that’s okay. You should be with your family.”

“ _Lena_. It’s almost Christmas. You even told me you didn’t have plans, so I was going to invite you, anyway. Please, for me,” Kara juts out her bottom lip – something _extremely_ illegal. Lena was fully prepared to say no, to tell Kara she had a lot of work to do, give her any excuse, but then she pouted. A Kara Danvers pout is one of the singlehandedly most effective weapons ever used against her. Forget guns, aim a well-prepared Kara pout at someone and they’d fall to their knees.

She stares at Kara’s doe eyes, eyelids fluttering, and she sighs. “Fine. Give me an hour to get home and pack.” Kara squeals and jumps up in excitement, escorting Lena to the door. “I’ll see you in an hour. I’ll pack the wine in the car and we can eat the pizza on the way.”

An hour later, Lena is all packed up and waiting for Kara’s arrival, letting her assistant know that she’ll be out of town for the next few days. Jess replies with a slew of gifs, many of which are TV or movie clips of people looking surprised. She sends a middle finger emoji back, which is no way to respond to an employee, but Lena’s trying to bring a new style of managing at L-Corp.

When Kara knocks on her door, she opens it and there’s a whoosh of air as Kara pushes past her, taking all her luggage into her arms and rushing back out the door. “Hello to you, too,” Lena says wryly.

“Sorry, sorry, kind of on a time crunch here. We need to be in Midvale by the time Alex gets back with Eliza.” Lena walks out behind her and locks her door, following Kara to the elevator.

“Why exactly do we need to be there at the same time?” Lena asks.

Kara looks affronted at the question. “So we can put the tree up,” she says as if it’s such an obvious answer.

Lena narrows her eyes, but doesn’t say anything more. They ride the elevator down and Kara is tapping her feet on the floor nervously as she leans back on the wall. The second the elevator dings and the doors slide open, Kara’s on the move again, rushing out the front of the apartment complex’s lobby and to her car that’s illegally parked in front. She gently throws Lena’s luggage into her trunk and climbs into the driver’s seat while Lena gets into the passenger seat.

When Kara turns the car on, Lena’s ears are immediately filled with the annoyingly jolly sounds of Christmas music and she groans audibly. “Really Kara? You’re going to make me listen to Christmas music the whole way there?”

“Listen, Ebenezer, this is a _Christmas_ trip to Midvale, where we will be celebrating _Christmas._ So, yes, the music will be appropriately themed.”

After the third version of _Baby, It’s Cold Outside_ and Lena attempting to jump out of the car, Kara finally changes the radio station to something just as obnoxious, but at least it doesn’t make Lena want to throw herself out of a moving vehicle.

They arrive at Eliza’s house a couple hours later and Kara takes their luggage up to the house while Lena follows close behind.

“Hey, we’re here!” Kara yells from the front door and sets the suitcases down by the staircase.

“In the kitchen,” comes a woman’s voice. They walk into the kitchen and Lena recognizes Alex and assumes the blonde woman is Eliza. Her foot is in a boot and it’s elevated onto a chair with a pillow on it.

“It’s about time,” Alex frowns.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Eliza says, smiling at Kara. “And you must be Lena.”

Lena nods. “Sorry for intruding on your holidays like this. I brought wine, though. I think Kara packed it in my suitcase.”

“Oh, nonsense. I’m glad you’re here. The girls could use all the help they can get, since their mother is now an invalid. Why don’t you two go unpack and then come down to help Alex with dinner?”

“Sure,” Kara says as she sticks her tongue out at Alex, who rolls her eyes. She jerks her head toward the door. “Come on, Lena. I’ll show you my childhood room.” Once again, Kara picks up their suitcases and goes up the stairs, making a right turn and heading toward the bedroom at the end of the hall. She turns on the light and there’s a double bed with a dresser and a reading nook on the far wall. It looks exactly the same way Lena would imagine Kara’s room would look like.

That glaringly obvious double bed in the middle of the room stares back at her and she wonders what the sleeping arrangements are going to be, but Kara’s just unpacking her suitcase and putting clothes into one of her dressers. Turning to face Lena, she opens the bottom two drawers.

“Here, you can use these, and if you need to hang anything up, you can use the closet over there.”

Lena smiles gratefully and thanks Kara.

“I’m just going to go downstairs and visit, but take your time. I know you like to unwind after trips and kind of relax before socializing.

“Okay, thanks Kara.”

“No problem, Grinch. Come down when you’re ready.” Lena snorts at the nickname and starts unpacking her suitcase. She folds all of her loose clothes into the drawers and hangs up the skirts and dresses she brought with her. It’s been years since she spent the holidays with someone, last time probably would have been with Jack before she moved to National City.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because Lena still hates holidays and thinks they’re a waste of time and only a way to guilt people to buying things for others, not to mention being forced to spend time with family. The only reason she’s there is because Kara _pouted_ at her and that really wasn’t fair. The Danvers seem nice enough, though. Lena’s met Alex a handful of times and Eliza seems like she’s sincere, which she definitely isn’t used to in a mother figure.

Once she’s done unpacking, she heads back downstairs and finds Alex and Kara still in the kitchen, shoving each other around a bowl on the countertop.

“You’re supposed to add the salt _after_ the flour!”

“That’s not what the recipe says!”

Eliza is still sitting at the table shaking her head and Lena sits down. “You know, at first I couldn’t tell that they were sisters, but I totally see it now.”

With a laugh, Eliza nods. “This is how they were the entire time growing up – getting on each other’s nerves, but being fiercely loyal to one another. Alex once broke a kid’s nose when he made fun of Kara.”

“I believe it,” Lena says. “You think I should go save them?”

“If we want to eat before midnight, that might be a good idea.” Lena pushes her chair out and walks over to Kara, who freezes and Alex takes the opportunity to steal the bowl away and continues to add ingredients.

“Lena, you’re here! I mean, of course you’re here. I meant that you’re in the kitchen.”

“Smooth,” Alex mumbles and Kara elbows her.

“Want to help us? We’re trying to make pizza dough, but Alex keeps trying to put the salt in too early.”

Lena folds up her sleeves and washes her hands. After drying them, she looks at their sad excuse for dough and takes over. She turns on the mixer and takes the salt out of Alex’s hand and adds that, along with flour little by little to the bowl, which already has the yeast, sugar, and oil in it. She has Kara grease a bowl and puts the dough inside it, covering it.

“Okay, you have an hour to prepare the toppings and then roll out the dough.” Lena sits back down with Eliza, who winks at her.

“Very nice,” she praises.

Lena smiles. “I knew a guy who ran a pizzeria and he gave me a few tips.”

A couple hours later, they’re finally eating, Kara’s moaning as she eats and it makes Lena’s ears turn a bright shade of pink. She tries very hard not to let the sound affect her, but if she’s being honest, everything Kara does affects her. How could it not? Kara, sweet Kara, always with a smile on her face to balance Lena’s continuous scowl. Kara, who always drags Lena out of the safety and comfort of her penthouse to go on random adventures like watch ultimate frisbee championships in the park or axe throwing.

Before Kara, Lena was a workaholic and she spent more time in her office than she did anywhere else, but since meeting Kara, she actually eats at least two meals a day and only sleeps in her office three times a week when it used to be six. Somewhere along the way, she started to feel something surfacing, bubbling to the top of her chest like a geyser waiting to spout off – a feeling she’d buried and boxed up a long time ago.

After they’ve cleared off the kitchen table and washed all of the dishes, Kara helps Eliza to her room and gets her ready for bed.

“So,” Alex drawls awkwardly. Lena glances at her and grins.

“Yes, Alex?”

“You and my sister. Are you… you know?”

“Are we what?”

Alex’s cheeks start to turn a dark shade of pink. “Well, there’s a reason why she invited you and I know you two are close.”

“Are you asking if Kara and I are together?”

“Um, yeah? I guess.”

“We’re not.”

“Oh,” Alex nods. “Okay.”

That’s where the conversation ends and they sit in silence until Kara comes back down the stairs. “Eliza is in bed and now we have time to put up the tree.”

Alex groans. “Kara, it’s late and I’m tired. Can we do this tomorrow?”

Kara pouts. “Oh, come on. Fine. Lena will help me, won’t you?”

Lena gives Kara a sympathetic look. “Actually, I’m a little tired, too.”

The look of betrayal that Kara has on her face makes Lena want to take it back immediately, but Kara grins again right away. “Okay, tomorrow it is!”

Kara and Alex say goodnight to each other at the top of the stairs and Alex gives Lena a curt nod. She nods back and follows Kara into her room. Lena closes the door and sees Kara rifling through the drawers for some clothes. Kara lets out a triumphant whoop as she finds what she’s looking for and turns to face Lena.

“I know you don’t like sleeping alone in unfamiliar places, so you can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.” Lena stares at her, surprised by Kara’s memory of a throwaway line, a small piece of information about herself that she mindlessly exposed, that she said once during lunch months ago. “Is that okay with you?”

“I’m not kicking you out of your bed,” Lena argues.

“And I’m not making you sleep on the floor, so I guess we’re sharing,” Kara nods, giving no room for debate. Lena swallows thickly and stares at the tiny bed in the middle of the room, trying to tell her heart to chill out and stop beating out of her chest.

They get ready for bed separately. Kara lets Lena use the bathroom first, but when she walks back into the bedroom, she sees Kara pulling her shirt down, but catches the briefest glimpse of the skin of her back. Her face burns and she clears her throat to announce herself before walking inside and putting her clothes with her suitcase.

“Gonna go brush my teeth,” Kara says and leaves the room.

Lena stands in the middle of Kara’s bedroom and actually takes the time to look around. Posters from her teenage years still hang from the walls and Lena chuckles to herself. Of course Kara would be into *NSYNC. She was more of a Backstreet Boys girl, herself.

When Kara opens the bedroom door, she sees Lena just standing there. “Is everything okay?”

Lena startles and whips her head around. “Everything’s fine. I was just noticing your décor.”

Kara laughs nervously. “I was trying to fit in with Alex and her friends. I drove her nuts when we were kids – probably now, too.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what siblings do,” Lena says, her smile faltering a little. Kara picks up on it and takes a step closer.

“I’m sorry about Lex.”

Lena clenches her jaw. “He made his bed. Anyway, should we—” She points to the bed.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure.” Kara turns down the covers and climbs in. Lena carefully slides in next to her, trying not to touch any skin, which is seemingly impossible with the size of the mattress. Kara pulls up the covers to her chin. “I apologize ahead of time if I kick you or snore.”

Lena chuckles. “It’s fine.”

Kara turns onto her side, _facing Lena_ , and mumbles a “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Kara,” Lena responds quietly.

Six hours and zero minutes of sleep later, Lena stares at the mop of blonde hair that is now draped across her chest and feels the wet pool of drool that’s seeping through her shirt. About an hour into their bedsharing, Kara cuddled closer into Lena until she was full-on sleeping on top of her and that left Lena so uncomfortable and wired from feeling Kara’s skin all over hers that she couldn’t fall asleep.

Being in this position did nothing to quell Lena’s rising feelings. In fact, it made it a thousand times worse, because Kara’s little snores are incredibly adorable and her hair smells nice, but all of those things are things Lena shouldn’t be thinking about when she’s in a bed with her best friend.

At about seven o’clock, she starts to hear movement around the house. She assumes it’s Alex getting up, but then she hears a crash and some swearing. As carefully as possible, she extricates herself from Kara’s grip and throws on the first hoodie she finds and peeks her head out the door. She sees Eliza trying to make herself a pot of coffee while leaning on one crutch and hobbling around the kitchen on one leg. Lena walks down the stairs and gives Eliza a hand, taking the pot out of her hand and placing the coffee filter in its slot.

“Thank you,” Eliza says gratefully. “I’m still getting used to this whole being injured thing.”

“Not used to asking for help, I’m assuming,” Lena asks knowingly.

Eliza laughs. “Not at all. Ever since Jeremiah passed, I’ve been doing everything myself since the girls are so far away.

They fall into silence while the coffee brews, but Lena can tell Eliza is looking her over. She leans onto the counter and clears her throat.

“So, you and Kara… are you two,” she trails off and Lena was dreading this moment. The hopeful glint in Eliza’s eyes will soon be extinguished once Lena breaks the news that she and Kara are just friends. She already had to tell Alex they weren’t together, so she honestly should have just taped a sign to her head that says, ‘still very single’.

“Oh, uh, no. We’re friends. She took pity on me when I told her I was going to be home alone for the holidays and practically dragged me here.”

Eliza hums and Lena’s worried that she’ll get questioned further, but thankfully she doesn’t. They sit down with their cups of coffee and wait for the other two to wake up and join them. Lena takes it upon herself to start breakfast, scrambling eggs and frying up some bacon, hoping the smell of food will get Kara out of bed, so she can take over the conversation with Eliza.

Right on cue, a groggy blonde comes downstairs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and sits down at the table.

“Good morning,” Eliza greets her.

“Morning,” Kara mumbles. Alex joins them soon after, grunting something about coffee and heading straight for the coffeepot. After everyone is suitably caffeinated, they help themselves to food and sit around at the table.

“So, I thought we could decorate the tree today and then watch a movie. How does that sound?” Eliza asks the girls.

“Sounds good, Mom,” Alex agrees and Kara nods.

Kara grabs all of the boxes of ornaments out of the garage and Lena waits in the living room next to the tree. Alex sets up a chair for Eliza to sit in and Kara starts to hand out the ornaments, putting the empty boxes aside. When the tree is suitably decorated, Kara jumps up.

“Wait, I forgot something,” she says as she runs up the stairs. A few seconds later, she comes back down and is holding an ornament out for Lena. “We all have one and I made one for you, too.”

Lena stares at the handmade ornament, shaped like a penguin, with her name on it and takes it from Kara, holding back emotions that threaten to spill out. She hates Christmas. It’s the worst holiday. Bah humbug. Kara points to a bare spot on the tree.

“Right here, you can put yours next to mine.”

Lena hangs her ornament and it twirls around on its string next to Kara’s and she regards it for a moment. She’s never had her own ornament, let alone an actual Christmas tree before.

“Okay, which movie first?” Eliza asks.

“ _Elf_!” Kara exclaims.

Alex groans. “That movie is stupid. Can’t we watch something else?”

“Why don’t we let Lena decide?” Eliza offers. The only Christmas movies Lena’s seen have been with Kara, so she doesn’t know what else there is. She says the first thing that comes to mind.

“Isn’t there a Charlie Brown Christmas movie?”

“Ah, a classic!” Alex smiles. “Good choice, Luthor.”

Lena smiles with a bit of pride and she looks over at Kara, who’s also smiling at her. They sit down on the couch with Alex and Eliza in the recliners and start the movie. About halfway through, Kara speaks up.

“I never understood why everyone is so mean to Charlie Brown. He’s just doing his best and wants everyone to be happy, but everyone else bullies him.”

“Linus doesn’t,” Lena adds.

“Well, that’s because Linus is his best friend. It’s his job to support Chuck. But then he wants to take home a tiny little tree that no one else wants and then all-of-a-sudden Christmas is ruined.”

“Reminds me of someone,” Alex says, holding back a laugh. Kara gives her a look and then throws a pillow at her.

“Girls,” Eliza warns.

After the movie is over, Alex heads into the kitchen to pop some popcorn for the next film, which Alex gets to choose, and Eliza heads to the bathroom.

“Was your sister referring to me as the little tree you brought home?”

“Don’t listen to her. She’s just bitter that she’s spending another holiday single.”

“Well, so are we,” Lena replies, trying not to let her own bitterness become noticeable.

“Yeah, but you and I are friends, but she’s stuck with her mom and sister. It’s different when you’re related. I think she’s a little jealous.”

Lena doesn’t push the subject any further, even though she doesn’t really see the difference. Alex probably has plenty of friends she could have invited. Eliza sits back down and Alex comes back with two bowls of popcorn, handing one to Kara for her and Lena to share. Alex chooses _Home Alone_ as her movie to watch next and Lena laughs when both she and Kara quote the entire movie the whole way through.

Lena thinks she can get used to this, but has to remind herself that this isn’t her family and she and Kara aren’t together.

The next day, Kara asks Lena to go last minute Christmas shopping with her and even though Lena would honestly rather chop off her own arm, she agrees. First, they go to a mall, or, as Lena likes to call it, hell on Earth. There are children running amok and parents looking frazzled while they let them run wild. Kara stops at an electronics store to buy something for Alex and then they go to one of those shops with lotions and soaps for Eliza. They have lunch at the food court and as they’re walking out, Kara freezes and grabs Lena’s arm.

“Let’s go take a picture with Santa!”

Lena cranes her neck to look at the imposter Claus and his “elves” distracting the children long enough to snap a photo. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Oh, come on, Lena. Don’t you want to have something to commemorate the holidays this year?”

“No, not particularly.”

“ _Please_ , Lena? For me?”

There’s that goddamn pout again. Lena’s knees feel weak and she presses her lips together in a straight line to try and keep her mouth from betraying her, but before she knows it, she’s blurting out an _okay, fine_ and Kara’s pout turns into a bright and shining smile. They stand in line, towering over all of the other children waiting in line, and when it comes up to their turn, one of the elves looks at them with a raised eyebrow, but gestures toward Santa.

“Ho, ho, ho! A couple of big kids today!”

Lena’s about to clock Santa on the mouth, but Kara runs over to him and sits on one of his knees before giving him a hug. Lena gingerly sits on the other knee, but doesn’t put her full weight down, because she feels a little strange sitting on a grown man’s lap, even if he is Kris Kringle, or whatever.

“Okay, smile!” one of the elves shouts. Lena forces a smile across her face and once the flash goes off, Santa is asking both of them what they want for Christmas.

“I’ve got everything I need already,” Kara says, smiling directly at Lena, which makes her face feel unnaturally warm.

“What about you, young lady?” Santa asks, directing his attention to Lena.

“Um, would it be too much to ask for a lobotomy, so I can forget this ever happened?”

Santa frowns and whispers to Kara, “Naughty list.”

“She’s been through a lot. Give her a break, Santa,” Kara whispers back, but loud enough for Lena to hear. Santa gives her a wink and they stand up and pick up their photo. Kara looks genuinely happy and Lena looks like she’s there at gunpoint, but Kara seems pleased, so she doesn’t say anything. They head back to Eliza’s and Kara shows off their photo. Eliza looks like she’s about to cry and Alex looks like she’s going to vomit.

Soon after, Kara shuts herself inside her room to wrap her presents and tells everyone else that her room is off limits until she says otherwise. Lena stays in the living room with Eliza and Alex, watching some random Christmas special while dinner is in the oven. They hear a thump from upstairs and Lena sits up as if she’s going to go check it out.

“Better stay down here,” Alex suggests.

Lena sends one more look up toward the stairs, but stays put. Near the end of the Christmas special, Kara comes down, arms full of wrapped presents and sets them down at the bottom of their tree.

“All done?” Eliza asks.

“Yep!”

“Great, now help me up, so we can serve dinner.” Alex and Kara lift Eliza up and help her to the kitchen, where she sits at the counter, ready to carve the roast. Lena tries to help, but everyone shoos her away and she sits at the kitchen table instead. Alex comes over to pour her a glass of wine, which she gratefully accepts. They eat together and trade stories. Most of Lena’s consist of her strange childhood and most of the Danvers’ is one making fun of Kara.

“One year, Kara wanted to surprise everyone on Christmas morning by getting up early to cook breakfast. This was back when Jeremiah was still alive, and he was an early riser, too. So, Kara’s in the kitchen, frying up some bacon when there’s a grease fire and she burns the stove and she and Jeremiah try to cover it up, but a mother always knows.”

“It also didn’t help that they threw the entire pan in the trash and didn’t take it outside.”

Eliza laughs. “Yes, that too.”

Kara slumps down in her seat, looking embarrassed and Lena smiles fondly at her.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing she’s never tried to cook for me,” Lena jokes.

“Hey! I’ve gotten better since then,” Kara frowns and Lena finds herself wanting to kiss those forehead creases away, but she catches herself and stares back down at her nearly empty wine glass. After dinner’s over with, Alex and Kara clean up and then they all go into the living room again.

“Board game night!” Kara exclaims as she opens a closet door and starts to take various boxes out and stacks them on the floor. She comes back with all of them and sets them on the coffee table.

“Since Lena’s the guest, I think she should get to choose,” Eliza says.

“Oh, no, that’s okay,” Lena protests, waving her hands in front of her.

“Come on, Luthor. What’s your favorite game? Just choose that one.”

Lena stares at the boxes in front of her and chews on the corner of her lip. Kara seems to understand the problem and bails her out.

“How about we start with something easy like Trivial Pursuit. Lena can pick the next one,” she says with a smile.

“We actually have even teams this time,” says Alex.

“I’m still going to kick your butt,” challenges Kara. “Lena’s on my team.”

“Oh sure, _you_ get the genius.”

“She’s _my_ friend!”

“Girls,” Eliza lowers her voice.

As suspected, Kara and Lena do win every round of Trivial Pursuit with Kara’s pop culture knowledge and Lena’s everything else knowledge. Alex throws her cards down in a huff and glowers.

“Okay, Lena, you choose next,” Kara says.

Lena looks through the boxes and slides one out. It includes money and property and has cute little objects to play as.

“Monopoly?” Kara gulps.

“Why? Is that a bad choice?” Lena asks, putting the box back down nervously.

“No, no. It’s okay. Alex always wins, though.”

“Damn right I do,” Alex adds. “All right, set it up.”

Two hours later, Kara is asleep on the couch after going bankrupt early on and Eliza’s sitting in the kitchen, making herself some sleepy tea. Alex and Lena are neck-and-neck with hotels on every single one of their properties. It’s Lena’s turn and she picks up the die, blowing on them before rolling. Luckily, she lands on a chance square and gets a bonus one hundred dollars. On Alex’s turn, she rolls and counts out the squares, frowning deeply.

“Are you kidding me? Illinois with two hotels?”

“Pay up, Danvers,” Lena smirks. Alex rolls her eyes and hands over the money, but she has to mortgage some of her properties in order to pay the full amount. By Alex’s next turn, she’s completely broke and holds her hand out for Lena to shake.

“I’m impressed.”

Lena shakes her hand. “Thanks, it’s simple economics.”

“Okay,” Eliza yawns as she hobbles back to the living room. “I think it’s time for bed. Someone’s going to have to wake Sleeping Beauty over there.”

“Not it,” Alex says quickly as she hurries over to Eliza to help her up the stairs. Lena looks over at Kara, who’s sleeping peacefully on the couch, soft snores rumbling through her nose and chest. She runs her hand through Kara’s hair, which causes her to stir and blearily open her eyes.

“Did we win?” she mumbles.

Lena smiles and answers quietly, “I beat your sister at Monopoly.”

“Wow, really? You’re incredible,” Kara says, voice still heavy with sleep. Lena feels her face warm up, but she ignores it and scratches at Kara’s scalp.

“Come on, everyone’s going to bed and you’ve been asleep for the past two hours.” She grabs onto both of Kara’s wrists and tries to pull her up, but Kara lets her body become dead weight and when she pulls her arms back toward her body, it trips Lena up, making her fall on top of the blonde. Kara laughs and hugs Lena to her chest. Lena holds her breath, fearing that making any movement will make things weird – well, weirder than they already are.

Kara finally releases her grip and Lena rolls off the couch, offering her hand to Kara, who takes it. This time, she allows herself to be pulled up and they walk upstairs to the bedroom. Kara uses the bathroom first and Lena takes the opportunity to try and calm her nerves. It’s just Kara. They’ve hugged plenty of times, never while both of them were horizontal, but that doesn’t mean anything. It _doesn’t_.

Kara comes back in and lets Lena know it’s her turn to use the bathroom, which she does hastily, quickly changing her clothes and washing up before staring into the mirror and wondering what the hell she’s supposed to do in a tiny bed next to Kara now that every touch sends lightning bolts through her veins. This is a problem, but Lena and her giant brain should be able to figure something out.

When she walks back into the bedroom, Kara’s already underneath the sheets, reading something on her phone. Lena carefully climbs into bed, trying not to touch any part of Kara, but when the bed is the size of a Tic Tac box, it’s near impossible and her arm gently grazes against Kara’s. She clenches her jaw and lies back onto the pillow.

“Ready for lights out?” Kara asks her. She just hums her consent and Kara turns off the lamp on the bedside table. The room is dark, save for the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling that still, miraculously, glow after all these years. She can hear Kara breathing next to her; she can _feel_ her looking at her.

“Well, goodnight,” Lena says and closes her eyes, hoping blocking everything out will help, but then she can feel Kara’s head inching closer toward her shoulder and resting against it.

“Thank you for coming with me. It’s been really nice having you here,” Kara says softly.

“Not like my other options were very appealing,” Lena replies sarcastically, but she’s actually grateful for Kara and her family.

“You’ve been doing pretty well for a Grinch.” Lena can tell Kara’s smiling and she tries really hard to be offended, but accepts her title. When Lena doesn’t say anything, Kara keeps talking. “So, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. We usually cook a big dinner, even though it’s just us. My mom likes doing it, and I usually eat all of the leftovers anyway, so we humor her. Eliza lets us open one gift at night and we save the rest for Christmas morning.

“I didn’t bring anything for anyone,” Lena says with a slight panic.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Lena absolutely worries about it. She wonders if online stores will still do overnight shipping if she pays them enough. She reminds herself to check in the morning. Back to the matter at hand, which is having Kara snuggled up next to her and then the worst thing happens: Kara drapes an arm over her stomach and pulls herself even _closer_ to Lena. She thought Kara was already flush up against her, but apparently there’s still more room.

Lena’s not going to get a wink of sleep this entire trip.

“I love you, Lena,” Kara murmurs into her shoulder and it makes Lena’s entire body clench and her heart ache, knowing Kara means it in a friend way. She says it back, anyway, hoping Kara picks up on her sincerity and levels of adoration in the four words _I love you, too_.

Christmas Eve, as Kara mentioned, is big dinner cookout day, which means they need to go grocery shopping. Kara wakes up first and immediately starts making a list of all the dishes they’re going to make and the ingredients they’ll need. Alex stays at home with Eliza to help begin preparations, which leaves Kara and Lena to brave the grocery store on the day before Christmas.

Kara grabs a cart and Lena walks next to her as they go down every aisle. Once they’ve paid, Kara tells Lena to stand on the cart’s wheel axel, but she gives her a look.

“Come on, trust me.”

Lena rolls her eyes and obeys, standing on the bar that connects the cart and the wheels. Kara starts to push her down the parking lot, running faster and faster, wind blowing her hair back and she has to admit that it’s pretty fun. They come to a screeching halt when they get to the car and Lena hops down, smiling at Kara, who’s looking at her and laughing. They drive back to Eliza’s house, listening to an *NSYNC radio station the whole way.

They unload the groceries and put things away, settling down around the kitchen table to help peel or slice whatever they need. Eliza takes the helm and instructs the others on what to do, creating a seven-course meal for the four of them. Lena’s never just sat around with other people and prepared a meal like this, but it feels nice. It feels like the family she’s been missing.

Once food is in the oven, they sit around the table and talk. Kara tells everyone about the story she’s been working on, which is a piece on the effects of the holidays on displaced aliens. Alex talks about her flag football team at work and how they’re in the quarterfinals. Then they look to Lena to contribute to the conversation, but she doesn’t know what she could possibly add other than her mother is an overbearing cow or her brother became a xenophobic monster. She supposes she could talk about how she’s completely in love with her best friend and she feels the urge to press their mouths together whenever she’s facing her, but that doesn’t seem very appropriate in present company.

So, she settles for telling them about her latest project, which is a new type of biodegradable material that will hopefully replace plastic, but retain the same durability. Everyone listens to her intently and she had forgotten what it felt like to have people genuinely interested in what she worked on when they had no other investments in it. Everyone asks her questions, which she gladly answers, and by the time they’re done talking, dinner is ready.

They all talk and eat and laugh, Lena drinking more wine than she originally intended, but Alex keeps refilling her glass and it would be rude to refuse her. By the end of the night, she’s wonderfully tipsy and her head is foggy enough that she can’t really keep track of where her hands are going or how much she’s touching Kara’s arm when she laughs at one of her jokes.

After Kara’s insistence, they finally gather around the tree to open their one present. Kara wears an oversized Santa hat, which she places on Lena’s head after much resistance, and doles out one present to each of them. Alex unwraps hers and she opens a box with a new motorcycle helmet, Eliza gets a nice new fleece blanket, and Kara receives gift certificates to a local restaurant she said she was dying to try out.

Lena begins to open her present carefully, not ripping the paper and delicately peeling away the tape. There’s a box beneath the paper that she opens and inside of it is a smaller box. She opens it and it’s a watch, but it’s not just any watch. It belonged to her brother and she thought it had been destroyed with all of this other belongings.

“I wasn’t sure if it was something you’d even want,” Kara admits. “But Alex was able to grab it before everything else got boxed up.”

Lena swallows thickly and takes the watch out, placing it on her wrist. She’ll have to get the size adjusted, but it really is a nice watch and she didn’t have anything else of her brother’s.

“Thank you,” she whispers, staring at the watch face and trying not to let her drunk emotions get the better of her. Kara leans in to hug her and Alex pats her on the shoulder.

Getting ready for bed that night feels different and she’s not sure if it’s because it feels normal after the last two nights, or because she’s still running on three glasses of wine. In any case, when she and Kara climb into bed, she isn’t nervous about touching bare skin or having a head resting on her shoulder, and she finally gets a restful sleep.

Early Christmas morning, there’s a buzz on Lena’s phone that wakes her and she throws on one of Kara’s hoodies and quietly leaves the room. She opens the front door and sees one of her company’s drones has delivered the gifts she’s bought for the others sitting on the doorstep. She picks them up and brings them all inside, trying to remember where Kara put the wrapping paper. She opens the door to one of the closets, but doesn’t find anything there. Eliza has parchment paper in the kitchen and it’s honestly better than nothing, so she takes that out and finds the scissors and tape.

Once she’s done wrapping, she puts her gifts underneath the tree with all the others. She starts to brew a pot of coffee and leans against the counter, checking her e-mails. Alex comes down soon after, rubbing her eyes and sits at the table. Lena pours her a cup of fresh coffee and slides it over to Alex, who inhales it before sipping the hot liquid.

“Kara’s really happy,” she says without preamble.

Lena blinks before pouring her own cup. “That’s good. I’m glad she’s happy.”

“Christmas is usually hard for her.”

“Oh,” replies Lena, not sure what else to say. Kara never appeared upset or sad during Christmas. In fact, she seemed extra excitable, but perhaps she was overcompensating for something.

“Ever since our dad died, she’s kind of tried to take over being the enthusiastic one during the holidays and I think having you here has made it less melancholy.”

Lena nearly laughs at the thought that _she’s_ the one making something less melancholy.

“Well, I’m happy to help in any way that I can.”

Alex hums and takes another sip of coffee. “You sure you two aren’t…” She raises an eyebrow.

Lena does laugh at that and shakes her head. “No, we aren’t.” She wants to ask why Alex keeps asking and if she notices something she doesn’t, because, truth be told, she’s kind of oblivious when it comes to emotions, especially other people’s emotions. But before she can say anything, Kara’s running through the hallway and down the stairs, yelling, “Christmas!” When Eliza emerges from her room, Kara practically carries her down the stairs. She pulls Lena out of her chair and has her sit on the couch in the same place as the night before.

Kara is wearing the same Santa hat, but has changed into a sweater that has a big reindeer head on the front with faux fur all over it. She flicks a switch and it lights up with Christmas lights. It’s the ugliest thing Lena’s seen, but when Kara wears it, she can’t help but think it looks cute. When Kara gets to the parchment paper-wrapped gifts, she looks at the other questioningly.

“Those are from me,” Lena says, cheeks feeling warm. “I couldn’t find the wrapping paper.”

“When did you even have time to shop?” Alex asks.

“Helps having your own army of drones and a lot of money to pay people to work for an hour on Christmas. Bezos has got nothing on me.”

Kara smiles at her fondly and holds up each one, waiting for Lena to tell her who it’s for. Once all of the presents are handed out, they begin unwrapping.

Alex had gotten her a bottle of good scotch and Eliza got her a nice afghan scarf that felt like touching a cloud. Lena had gifted Eliza a new coffee machine, one that makes cappuccinos and lattes with the press of a button and gave Alex two paid trips to wine country to take her _hot therapist friend_ or _maybe that cute CFO_ or _what about that cop_. Alex groans and laments only having two hands.

Lena watches Kara open her gift, which is placed in a gigantic box. Kara gasps as she reveals every Christmas movie ever made. If it had _Christmas_ in the title, Lena bought it. Even if it didn’t have it in the title, she bought it.

Kara’s eyes widen as big as saucers and she practically dives into Lena’s arms, hugging her tight. She starts pulling out the movies she knows she already owns and says she’ll leave them with Eliza. While Alex is cleaning up all the paper and Eliza is getting breakfast ready, Kara takes a step closer to Lena, nervously wringing her hands.

“I, uh, have another gift for you, but it’s upstairs. Will you follow me?” Lena nods curiously and follows Kara up the stairs. Kara’s holding her hand while they walk toward the bedroom and they stop right outside the door. Kara opens it slowly and pulls Lena in slightly, stopping her in the middle of the doorway.

“Kara, what—”

Her question is cut off by a pair of lips being pressed into hers and her mind completely blanks out, but she has enough wherewithal to grab onto Kara’s waist and pull herself into the blonde. She’s being gently pushed into the wall beside the door as a hand snakes up her neck and fingers slide through her hair. Just as she’s about to open her mouth wider, she presses something on Kara’s sweater and a loud rendition of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ starts playing and they jump apart from each other, laughing nervously.

Breathlessly, Lena asks, “What was that?”

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?”

“No, the—you know what I mean.”

Kara simply points to the top of the doorway at a dangling piece of plastic mistletoe that hangs from it.

“ _That_ was a mistletoe kiss?”

Kara grins sheepishly. “Well, it might have given me the excuse to kiss you, but no, that was more than a mistletoe kiss.”

“I’ll say,” Lena replies with an amused huff.

Kara goes back to folding her hands and threading her fingers together nervously. “It’s just that… the past few days have been amazing. It almost felt like we were here… together, you know? And I know we aren’t, but Alex and Eliza kept hounding me and asking me why I haven’t asked you out. And I know what I did wasn’t right and I should have asked you for consent first, because that’s _important_ , but I didn’t know how to tell you how I feel without rambling like I’m doing now, so I thought that by inviting you over for movies and then impulsively inviting you to the Danvers Christmas would do the trick and then you’ve been so amazing and Eliza loves you—like, she _loves_ loves you. Probably more than me, because you can actually cook and help out in the kitchen, but I understand if you’re disgusted and just want to go home. Just say the word and I’ll drive us back to National City.”

Lena curls her lip up into a smirk. “Are you done?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Kara replies sheepishly.

Lena closes the distance and wraps her arms around Kara’s neck, pulling them together and Kara hesitantly curls her arms around Lena’s waist. They just stand there for a minute until Alex yells at them to put their clothes back on, because breakfast is ready.

“You okay to go? We can talk about this later.”

Lena nods and Kara leads them back downstairs. Eliza looks like she’s trying to suppress a flood of tears and Alex has a shit-eating grin all across her face.

And that’s how Lena becomes a member of the Danvers clan. She’s officially invited back to Eliza’s for every holiday and anytime in between - especially if Kara’s becoming too much of a nuisance, Alex adds. Lena completely forgets about her mother and about Lex and the telescope. She no longer thinks about spending her New Years’ Eve texting her assistant with random questions about work just to feel like she isn’t completely alone. Now, she has Kara. She has Alex and Eliza.

Kara still calls her Ebenezer and Grinch, but it’s not said maliciously. Lena finds it funny that all it took to make her shriveled, dead heart grow three sizes bigger were three other women to accept her for who she is and for one of them to love her just enough.

Maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all. It’s still up for debate.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays and whatnot. This is gifted to my bud, Natalie. Thank you so much for always being so supportive and loving. I'm so fortunate to know you and I love you so much.
> 
> tumblr: bearpantaloons  
> Twitter: tapdancinghippo


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